John Oates to perform Friday at Don Gibson Theatre

Thursday

Feb 7, 2013 at 12:01 AM

In the early 1980s, it was nearly impossible not to be exposed to the music of Hall & Oates.

By DAN ARMONAITISdan.armonaitis@shj.com

In the early 1980s, it was nearly impossible not to be exposed to the music of Hall & Oates.The iconic duo was all over the radio airwaves, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart with a string of unforgettable pop classics that included “Kiss on My List,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)” and “Maneater.”John Oates is still very attached to those songs and regularly performs them both in his solo shows and in concerts with his longtime musical partner Daryl Hall. But it would be a mistake to define Oates based solely on the work he did with Hall & Oates.“I have a love for traditional American music of all sorts, everything from the way the blues evolved into early rock 'n' roll and R&B and all that stuff,” Oates said.“Now that I'm a little bit older … I've kind of gone full circle back to those roots and am trying to incorporate that sensibility into the music I'm making now.”Oates' most recent studio album, 2011's “Mississippi Mile,” drives that point home. It's a wide-spanning collection that draws heavily from the early 20th-century blues and folk tradition while including outstanding musicianship from such A-list Nashville session players as Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas.Of his eclectic taste in music, Oates said, “It comes from being a musician almost from birth. I was a kid who sang, literally, as soon as I could talk.”As a child, Oates, now 63, absorbed everything from early rock 'n' roll and R&B to doo-wop and country. He vigorously collected 45 RPM singles during the '50s, amassing treasures by such artists as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, Conway Twitty and Elvis Presley.Then, in the early '60s, he discovered folk and blues music.“When (my friend's older brother) came back from college, he brought all these long-playing albums back,” Oates said. “This was when the folk revival was just starting to happen … and I started listening to things I had never heard — everything from the Library of Congress recordings to the stuff that Pete Seeger did with the Weavers, and Joan Baez, the New Lost City Ramblers, Dave Van Ronk and Ian & Sylvia.”

By the late '60s, Oates, who grew up in a small town near Philadelphia, had become a regular at coffeehouses that featured such music and was annually attending the legendary Philadelphia Folk Festival.Through his guitar teacher, Jerry Ricks, Oates became immersed in the scene.“Whenever a lot of (folk and blues) performers would come to Philadelphia, they would stay at Jerry's house in his spare bedroom,” Oates said. “And, so, I got to sit in the living room and pick with Doc and Merle Watson, Mississippi John Hurt and all these people.“It was just an amazing experience to be a part of that as these guys were kind of being discovered and performing for the first time for a brand-new audience.”Simultaneously, Oates remained connected to the R&B scene that would have a more direct influence on the music of Hall & Oates.“It was kind of the perfect storm of American musical roots all happening at the same time, and I was very fortunate to be there and be a part of it,” Oates said.Oates takes pride in his work with Hall & Oates, a group that began in 1969 and is still active.“We've always thought of ourselves as songwriters first and foremost, so the fact that (our) songs have endured and don't sound dated is because of — I'd like to think — the craftsmanship and the artistry involved in writing them,” Oates said.Oates said that his concert Friday at the Don Gibson Theatre in Shelby, N.C., will feature an assortment of traditional folk and blues songs along with selections from his solo albums and from the Hall & Oates catalog.“It's really much more of a personal show where I tell a lot of stories about how the songs were written, and a lot of them are funny and kind of unusual,” Oates said.

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